About 20 million of China's migrant workers have lost their jobs, increasing the threat of social instability, a senior official said on Sunday.

The figures represent 15.3 percent of China's 130 million migrant workers, a survey from the Ministry of Agriculture states, according to state media outlet China Daily.

Every year, an additional 5 to 6 million new migrants are added to the total.

Therefore, about 25 million rural migrant workers will face huge pressure finding jobs this year, said Chen Xiwen, director of the central rural work leading group, an advisory body from the central government. The increasing number of jobless migrant workers has posed a fresh threat to the social stability.

Migrant workers' salaries contribute about 40 percent of rural families' income, according to China Daily.

The comments come after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Sunday that the government may expand its economic stimulus to boost the country's growth and trigger consumer spending. He said China's economic growth slowed steeply to 6.8 percent in the last quarter of 2008.

Unemployment Immigration China